Last week bought two excellent announcements regarding our local rail links to London.
Over 1,000 of you signed my petition to increase the number of trains on the fast line through Otford and Swanley, and last week I received the brilliant news from Southeastern that an additional rush hour train will be added to the morning service after the timetable change on 10th December.
This means during the two-hour morning rush hour period, there will be a half hourly service to Charing Cross via London Bridge. I hear regularly from commuters that use this line, how much of a difference it has made to their day-to-day travel, and I know this additional service will be hugely welcome.
Thank you to all of you who signed my petition. Without your support this would not have happened. I’m also keeping up the pressure for a half hourly service during the evening rush hour. I will keep you posted.
Secondly, in Sevenoaks during the rush hour there had also been a gap in the timetable between the 07:12 and 07:48 for trains direct to Cannon Street – another popular commuter route.
I am very pleased to report that Southeastern has listened to concerns raised and from the December timetable change a new service will now fill this gap, with a direct train from Sevenoaks at 07:26 arriving at Cannon Street at 07:58.
These changes come in addition to the arrival of contactless ticketing, which this autumn be introduced at six additional stations across Sevenoaks – Bat and Ball, Dunton Green, Eynsford, Otford, Sevenoaks and Shoreham - following our successful campaign and local visit from the rail minister.
I continue to push at every timetable change for better services for our local stations. Improving local transport infrastructure is one of my key election pledges so I will keep you all updated with developments. Equally if there is an improvement you would like to see, please let me know by emailing [email protected].
